Today in the Fun Easy English classroom you are going to read about
Freedom of Speech. This is an interesting topic and hopefully you
will take the survey at the end of the lesson and post your thoughts
in the comment section.

Hey
if you cannot understand something on this page,
then use the Fun Easy English
dictionary
(opens in a new window)

Freedom of speech is the political right to communicate
one's opinions and ideas. The term freedom of expression
is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of
seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas,
regardless of the medium used. In practice, the right to
freedom of speech is not absolute in any country and the
right is commonly subject to limitations, as with libel,
slander, obscenity, sedition (including, for example
inciting ethnic hatred), copyright violation, revelation
of information that is classified or otherwise.

Freedom of speech in the United States is protected by
the First Amendment to the United States Constitution
and by many state constitutions and state and federal
laws. The freedom is not absolute; the Supreme Court of
the United States has recognized several categories of
speech that are excluded from the freedom of speech, and
it has recognized that governments may enact reasonable
time, place, or manner restrictions on speech.

Criticism of the government and advocacy of unpopular
ideas that people may find distasteful or against public
policy are almost always permitted. There are exceptions
to these general protections, including the Miller test
for obscenity, child pornography laws, speech that
incites imminent lawless action, and regulation of
commercial speech such as advertising. Within these
limited areas, other limitations on free speech balance
rights to free speech and other rights, such as rights
for authors and inventors over their works and
discoveries (copyright and patent), protection from
imminent or potential violence against particular
persons (restrictions on fighting words), or the use of
untruths to harm others (slander). Distinctions are
often made between speech and other acts which may have
symbolic significance.

Despite the exceptions, the legal protections of the
First Amendment are some of the broadest of any
industrialized nation, and remain a critical, and
occasionally controversial, component of American
jurisprudence.

In many nations, particularly those with relatively
authoritarian forms of government, overt government
censorship is enforced. Censorship has also been claimed
to occur in other forms and there
are different approaches to issues such as hate speech,
obscenity, and defamation laws even in countries seen as
liberal democracies.

This is one of the most controversial topics in the
world today. Different countries impose different
restrictions on freedom of speech. The United States of
America has the most liberal policies relating to
freedom of speech but is it too liberal? Answer the
survey below and then post a comment.

Survey:
Do you agree with American citizens total freedom of
speech?

Many people believe in America freedom of speech is too
liberal.Decide if freedom of
speech is too liberal
on the survey belowand
post a comment at the
bottom of this page.